Two Hadi government officials, who spoke anonymously to Reuters, said the rebels had no good reason not to travel to Kuwait.

"Representatives from Saleh's party and the Houthis are looking for excuses to delay their arrival at a precise time, but it's expected that they will arrive later in Kuwait on Tuesday," one of the officials said.

Hisham al-Omeisy, a political analyst based in Sanaa, told Al Jazeera that the talks in Kuwait were a positive development.

"The warring parties are exhausted, they need an exit," he said.

UN-sponsored talks in June and December failed to end the war that has killed about 6,200 people - half of them civilians.

A security vacuum created by the conflict has allowed the local affiliate of al-Qaeda to seize territory and opened a path for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group to gain a foothold.